STOCKHOLM: Hundreds of Swedes gathered in the hot summer sun on Saturday to watch former reality show starlet Sofia Hellqvist become a real-life princess when she marries Prince Carl Philip in a lavish Stockholm wedding.

Royal watchers clutching blue and yellow national flags pitched rugs and deck chairs along the route that the newlyweds took after exchanging vows and before returning to the palace for a 21-gun salute and wedding banquet.

About 550 guests attended the ceremony including Britain’s Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and Princess Takamado of Japan.

The celebrations marking Sweden’s latest royal wedding began Friday evening with a boat ride across the sparkling waters of Stockholm bay and a dinner on a small city center island.

Hellqvist, a slender and elegant brunette, is a 30-year-old commoner known for her infectious gap-toothed smile and easygoing ways.

Her fiance, 36-year-old Carl Philip, is the second child of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia and holds the title of Duke of Varmland.

He is third in line to the throne, behind his elder sister Crown Princess Victoria — who also married a commoner — and her three-year-old daughter Princess Estelle. The prince will keep his title thanks to a change of rules in 1980 which also makes Hellqvist a princess through marriage.

“It is the first time a woman of the people marries a prince who is also marrying a princess,” royal historian Goran Alm told public broadcaster SR.